A Treatise on the Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine

By J.L.W. Thudichum

A Treatise on the Origin, Nature, and Varieties of Wine is a comprehensive history of wine, and discussion of its chemical properties. The original illustrations are included, as is a table of contents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles River Editors
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508014584

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Thudichum

PREFACE.

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IN PRESENTING THIS TREATISE TO the public, the Authors have hardly any statement to make which is not contained or implied in the work itself. Nevertheless, as the title may fail in conveying fully the scope and intensity of their labours, they beg leave to supplement it by a short preliminary statement of the principles by which they have been guided. In the first place, the Authors determined to produce a strictly scientific work, based as far as possible upon their personal observations. Such have therefore been made in the vineyards, cellars, and repositories of many countries, in the respective chemical laboratories of the Authors, in public and private gardens, in open nature, and in mines underground. Wherever possible, they availed themselves of the writings of previous authors for the purpose of guiding or supplementing their observations, and with that object they have consulted and used nearly two hundred out of the six hundred works which compose the world’s œnological literature.

The Authors next endeavoured to give due proportions to each of the elements of their treatise, so as to make it useful to the greatest possible number of readers. The planters of Australia or America will therefore find in it a concise exposition of the principles of viticulture and vinification, by the aid of which they may attain the best products of which their climate may admit ; but they will also have before them faithful pictures of the viticulture of the principal wine districts of the world, which they may use as patterns for imitation, if disinclined to rely upon general principles. The wine merchants of Great Britain and of America will find accurate descriptions of the objects of their trade, together with such topographical and statistical information as may aid them materially in enlarging the field, or the certainty, or the profits of their operations ; and rendering still more important services to the public for which they have hitherto provided, or hope in future to provide. All persons who are fond of wine as an article of diet and a means of enjoyment, will be able to find in this treatise information about the origin and varieties of wine, which will enable them to regulate their wants with due reference to their liking and their means. They will find that the Authors have had amongst their aims the accomplishment of one of the most benevolent intentions of the Legislature ; namely, to make accessible to the people at large, the wines of all countries which can be used as beverages, and which by the voice of science and the practice of entire nations are declared preferable by far to distilled spirit or to wines fortified by such. While thus assuming a distinct position with regard to a well-understood social question, the Authors have abstained from a zealous exaggeration, and have, on the contrary, endeavoured to preserve that judicial calmness which distinguishes the natural historian. The same moderation they have applied to practices such as the plastering of must and wine, for which, after the most searching investigation, they have been unable to find any logical grounds ; nay, for which those who are most addicted to them cannot adduce a single reason or pretext. An improved vinification by the guidance of science will of itself cause such practices to fall into desuetude, even if their results were not prejudicial to the quality of the products or the health of the consumers.

The Authors have endeavoured to impress strongly upon the minds of their readers that there is an indissoluble connection between the grape and the wine which it yields. The genius of wine is in the grape ; every kind of vine gives a distinct character to its product. For this reason the most renowned wines are all made from distinct varieties of grapes, which are never mixed with indifferent or heterogeneous varieties. The greater the number of varieties of grapes which participate in the production of a certain wine, the less character possesses the product. All wines should, therefore, be described in such a manner that the grapes from which they are made constitute the first term of the description. Wine from Palomino grown at Xeres differs greatly from wine made from the Mantico castellano grown in the same district How, then, can such wines be adequately described by the expression Sherry ? Wine from Carbenet Sauvignon differs greatly from the wine produced by the Verdot and Malbec. Is it not unreasonable to confound these products under the term Claret ? The wines of Riessling and of Traminer are distinct products of the Rhine country. Is it not time to abandon or amend the designation of Hock, so as to maintain the emphatic originality of each variety ? The adoption of this principle will go far to put an end to adulteration and imitation. The more the product of a distinct variety of vine becomes obscured by mixing, sweetening, or brandy, the easier it can be imitated. But the thoroughly fermented, unsugared, and unbrandied wines of Palomino, Semillon, Riessling, Formint, of the Pineau, Bastardo, Verdot, Carmenet, Grenache and Tinto, cannot be imitated by the most expert wine-cooks. Take away their brandy, their sugar, caramel, elder, and logwood, and their imposture is at an end.

It is thus not difficult to see in what direction the taste of the educated or informed part of the people will in the future be developed. The days of the heavily-brandied wines are numbered, since it is proved that the wines of Xeres and Oporto can be brought into a merchantable condition without extraneous spirit. As the habits of the people get softened, so they decrease both the quantity and strength of the alcoholic liquids which they consume, and insist upon increasing quality and differentiation of their beverages.

Persons interested in the maintenance of abuses have frequently attempted to uphold them by statements which they themselves did not always believe to be true. The greatest difficulty in the way of our inquiries has been the frequent misrepresentations on the part of producers and merchants regarding the natural alcoholicity of the wines of South Europe. We have dispelled this fog by relying, not upon men or their wines, but upon the scrutiny of musts by the gravimeten. We are sorry to find, that there is some tendency on the part of Australian producers to mystify the public regarding the natural strength of their wines, but rejoice that there are others who by the publication of the observations concerning the strength of their musts enable us to maintain for Australia also the validity of our general scientific conclusions.

In the course of our studies we have met with much support on the part of British and foreign merchants and producers interested in the subject Our warmest thanks are due to the Messrs. W. and A. Gilbey, who have greatly assisted us throughout our labours, and given us such opportunities as we should not otherwise have enjoyed. We also fulfil a pleasant obligation by expressing our thanks to Monsieur Auguste Meller of Bordeaux, Monsieur Emile Perrier of Châlon sur Marne, and Herrn Rudolph Henckell of Mayence, for the great assistance given to us in our studies of the viticulture of the Gironde, the Champagne, and the Rhine.

Many are the friends, acquaintances, and strangers in almost all parts of the world, who supplied us with practical or literary notes, or hints and materials. To all of them we express our best thanks at this agreeable moment of the conclusion of our long and arduous, but faithful and pleasant labours.

We have also to acknowledge the care and attention bestowed on the woodcuts by Mr. J. D. Cooper and Mr. Collings.

October 1871.

A TREATISE ON THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND USE OF WINE, ETC.

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CHAPTER I.ORIGIN AND PHYSIOLOGY OF VINES.

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INDIGENOUS VINES OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—PROBABLE derivation of cultivated vines from indigenous varieties.—Fossil vine and grapes.—Geographical distribution of cultivated vines on the northern hemisphere.—Mineral constituents of the vine.—Influence of the soil on the mineral constituents of the vine,—Amount of mineral matter which viticulture abstracts from the soil.—Organic ingredients and chemical development of the vine.—Special investigation of the relation of acid and sugar in grapes during ripening.

INDIGENOUS VINES OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

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MOST BOTANICAL AUTHORS HAVE ASSUMED that all the vines of Europe are derived from one particular species, the Vitis vinifera, which they imagine to be a native of Asia, and to have been imported into the Western world in prehistoric times. The primary grounds for this surmise were perhaps the Semitic traditions of Paradise, and the Greek mythos of the migration from India to Hellas of the wine-god Dionysos. From Greece the vine was supposed to have come to Italy, and from this latter country to have been imported into France and Germany by the agency of historical colonization. Whenever a German botanist met with a wild vine in the Rhine valley, he explained its existence by the assumption that it was a degenerated offspring of vines carried thither by the Romans ; and, inversely, enthusiastic antiquarians declared the presence of these plants in the marshes of the Rhine valley as relics, nay, even as evidence of the former existence of Roman settlements. This opinion obtained almost universal credence, until Gmelin, in elaborating the Flora Badensis, observed that the wild vine frequently occurred in the dioic state. He then described such plants botanically, and gave them a separate place in his treatise under the special name of Vitis sylvestris. In most botanical works which appeared subsequently to Gmelin, the Vitis sylvestris is quoted after him, but the discovery is mostly neutralized by the remark that the Vitis sylvestris was nothing but a degenerated Vitis vinifera. Other botanists, amongst them Reichenbach, fell into the error of confounding the American vine, the Vitis labrusca,—the first variety which Linné accepted by the side of the vinifera,—with the sylvestris. This singular failure of able botanists is the more astonishing, since Crescentius, who lived in the thirteenth century at Bologna, and wrote a compendium on the Italian vines, stated that he had met with many varieties of wild vine in Italy, which appeared to him to be peculiar sorts ; and Clémente, in his work on the vines of Andalusia, recognized the peculiar character of the wild vines of his country, and believed them to be indigenous to it, and consequently to have existed there previous to the introduction or origination of the cultivated species. He expresses himself very strongly against the limitation of botanists who assume only one Vitis vinifera, and refer all other varieties to a play of nature. He says that in the neighbourhood of Algaida, near Sanlucar de Barrameda, there grow in the wild state different kinds of vines which are perfectly characterized. He refers to their varying ages, and points out that the young plants have the same characters as the old ones. From this he further argues that they have probably preserved these same characters through an inconceivable series of centuries during which countless generations have been propagated by seed. He describes how, in the lower parts of the district, where there are sources of sweet water not far from the surface of the earth, the wild vine forms impenetrable thickets, grottoes, covered walks, winding footpaths, walls, arches, pillars, and by means of other plants, particularly trees, other original shapes, which it is impossible to describe. He states that it cannot be proved by any document that a vine has ever been planted in this neighbourhood in former times. What he says about the improbability of the Arabs having brought the vine thither is perhaps irrelevant, as he bases his argument upon the fact of wine having been forbidden to them by their religion. They might have cultivated it for the sake of the grapes and raisins. But the strongest argument in favour of his opinion is the small resemblance which these wild species of Algaida vines have to the cultivated varieties of the south of Spain. He thereby eliminates the idea that the first seed of these plants had been carried to these marshes from neighbouring vineyards, within a period not far distant from the time when he (Clémente) wrote, by the agency of men, or animals, or other means.

In Provence, Languedoc, and Guyenne there grow many wild vines on hedges, in jungles, or in woods and forests. According to Duhamel, they differ from the cultivated varieties by their leaves being in general smaller, and more cottony on the surface, and particularly by their fruit being much smaller, and of a less soft and sugary taste. These wild vines, to which the ancients had given the name of labrusca, are yet known in the present day in the south of France, under the name of Lambrusco and Lambresquiero.

In the forests which border the marshy shores of the Rhine, between Mannheim and Rastadt, there grow many thousands of wild vines, which, as far as they had been observed at all, were, like the Vitis sylvestris of Gmelin, declared by botanists to be degenerated vines disseminated from human plantations, through the agency of birds and men. This error was dispelled by the investigations of that distinguished oenologist, the late J. P. Bronner, of Wiesloch, near Heidelberg. He studied these children of the forest in their natural haunts during several years ; he visited them in early summertime, and selected from the many thousand individuals the types of inflorescence and multifarious forms of leaves ; he marked the places of their abode, and returning in the fall saw and tasted the grapes, which had then come to maturity. After devoting years to the observation of the several constant varieties, he took cuttings from them and planted them in his garden at Wiesloch in order to observe their bearing in the state of cultivation. He had thus planted thirty-six varieties, when in the year 1842, a very favourable wine-year, most of his plants bore very perfect fruit, and brought it to the utmost maturity. None of these plants had changed their original character by cultivation. Bronner caused accurate pictorial representations of their fruit to be made. Already, during the time of blossoming, he had obtained faithful portraits of the flowers, leaves, and branches by a kind of nature printing, and when these were coloured by the artist the whole formed a complete botanical atlas of the wild vines of the Upper Rhine valley.

At the same time Bronner made an accurate botanical diagnosis of, and attributed a suitable Latin name to each variety, and arranged the whole in a special system, based upon the construction of the flowers and the formation of the fruit.

The inflorescence of these wild vines shows three distinct forms. A considerable number of plants exhibit only a male inflorescence without any umbilicus capable of fructification ; in the place where there should be a beginning of a berry, there is a yellow receptacle with honey. The plant produces an enormous number of blossoms, each of which is several inches in length, and with its long yellow stamina and terminal pollen bags resembles a brush such as is used for cleaning bottles. The flowers distribute a most agreeable odour around the plant.

A certain number of the other vines have exactly the same inflorescence as the cultivated vines ; they are hermaphrodite, with long projecting yellow stamina and pollen bags, and an umbilicus capable of impregnation. The leaves of these vines differ but little from those of the cultivated varieties, but the fruit has a different shape and a different chemical nature, being often very acid and sometimes quite inedible.

But the great majority of individuals as well as species of wild vine has a most peculiar inflorescence, differing considerably from the two forms just described. On looking upon an active blossom of this class, the spectator receives the impression that it is an undeveloped bunch of buds, from which the ordinary cover of the flower, the so-called crown or cap, which the cultivated vine always sheds completely, had not yet been thrown off. On close examination it is however seen that the cap is actually detached, although it remains hanging upon the flower, and the stamina are seen bent downwards below the basis of the future fruit. The stamina become, as botanists technically term them, stamina recurvata, and thus greatly differ in appearance from the stamina erecta of the wild unproductive variety above described, and of the hermaphrodite wild and cultivated plants.

It is to be regretted that Bronner did not study the physiological relations of the male plants with erect stamina to those which showed the stamina recurvata, the more so as he himself surmised that these latter plants are unable to

fructify themselves, but require the male plants for fructification. The transfer of the pollen from the male to the female individuals, which are mostly standing at a distance from each other, is very probably effected by the agency of insects. The male plants seem to belong to different species or varieties, as indicated by differences in their leaves. But

these were not particularly inquired into by Bronner. The male plants were perhaps capable of fructifying any of the female plants, and thus producing new varieties by crossing.

It will be seen from our account of the American vines that they also occur in the polygamic as well as the dioic state. Monographers do not admit this to be a characteristic feature, but hold it to be an accident to which any variety may be subject.

In the vineyards of the department of the Ain, in France, a variety of vine is cultivated which is termed the mescle. It has long bunches of oval grapes and deeply lobated leaves, mostly with five divisions. Each of these divisions or lobes is provided with a considerable expanse of vegetable membrane on both sides of the principal so-called nerve in every case in which the plant is fertile ; but a leaf with a narrow strip of membrane on both sides of the nerve indicates a sterile plant The plants can be easily distinguished, even at a distance, with the help of the following engravings.

The plants indicated by Fig. 4 are absolutely and always sterile, and the vine-dressers term them plants craputs. They grow luxuriant branches, and the apparently crippled character of their leaves is no indication of any general want of vigour. Their cuttings and provines are as sterile as the parent stocks. The vine-dressers in the Ain have a fable to account for this peculiarity ; namely, that it is produced by planting canes which have grown from old wood. Guyot, who noticed the fact, was as unable to account for it as the vine-dressers, and laboured to establish a relation between the expanse of the leaf and the fecundity of the shrub. We think, however, that the sterile mescle will be found to be the male, and the fertile either the female or hermaphrodite. In this we are confirmed by the curious circumstance that no vine-dresser dares totally to extirpate the sterile mescle from his vineyard, although he abstains from increasing the number of individuals.

Bronner divided the hermaphrodite indigenous wild vines of the Rhine valley into two classes. The first class comprises those which have flowers with recurvate short stamina. The orders and varieties are determined by the shape and colour of the berries. The second class comprises the vines with flowers bearing long erect stamina. The orders are again determined as before.

Class I. Flowers with short stamina.

Order I. Berries round.

Sub-order A. Berries reddish blue.

Berberina villosa. Bears acid, inedible grapes.

Tyrtamia revoluta. All young leaves are bent back at the margin, almost rolled in. Acidulous grapes.

Sub-order B. Berries blackish blue.

Arminia confecta. Small acidulous grapes of the size of peas.

A. sylvatica, Acid, hard fleshy grapes, with little juice, almost inedible. Most common, but not very fertile.

A. obtusiloba. The middle lobe is very short and obtuse, as if cut off ; very small bunch, from to i inch in length ; grapes a little sweet.

Order II. Berries oblong.

Sub-order A. Berries green.

Maerklinia viridis. Bears green, almost inedible grapes.

Sub-order B. Berries blackish blue.

Palatina dichotoma. Every fruit-stalk is divided into two equally strong branches. Grape acid.

P. oblonga. Oblong grape.

P. septemloba. Seven-lobed leaf.

P. Wisilocensis and sylvestris seem less well defined.

P. tilesifolia. Leaf like lime-tree leaf, undivided. Of this variety Bronner had also diagnosed the male.

P. sinuata. Deeply cut or sinuated leaf.

P. macrocarpa. Large bunch, like noirien.

P. dissecta. Deeply lobed and sub-lobed, so that the leaf consists almost of teeth only.

Dionysia isidorophylla. Leaf like that of Sibling. (Isidora nobilis, Burger.)

Class II. Flowers with long stamina.

Order I. Berries round.

Sub-order A. Berries green.

Zachringia nobilis. The grapes are as large as those of Riessling, and are yellow when ripe. They have a luscious sweet taste, with the flavour of orange-flower, on account of which Bronner termed them the orange grapes.

Sub-order B. Berries reddish blue.

Sickleria brevicirrhata. Grapes acid.

Elisabetha rubicunda. The grapes are reddish blue and of great size and fine shape. They have the peculiarity of the rose muscadine chasselas in this, that they turn red at an early period ; the points of the old leaves, the entire young leaves, and the young wood bunch are all quite red.

Berberina venusta. The grape of this vine is of remarkable size (5 inches in length) and shape, but so acid that even the birds in winter refuse to eat the berries.

Sub-order C. Berries blackish blue.

Heddoea mitissima. Splendid black grapes of the size of a great Burgundy grape.

Schanisia ligustrica. Leaf very small. Bays between leaves widely open. Grapes resemble greatly the fruit of Ligustrum vulgare (privet berry) in shape, size, and colour. Taste acidulous.

Noachia macrophylla. Very large leaves, 8 to 9 inches’ diameter. Grapes sweet.

Ludovica cylindrica. The largest bunch of all wild vines on the Rhine, averaging 6 to 8 inches in length. Very suitable for cultivation.

Gockia crescentifolia. Leaf very similar to that of the Traminer.

Thalesia rubrivenia. Ribs and nerves of leaves coloured red.

Dioscoridea grata. Grape agreeably sweet.

Order II. Berries oblong.

Sub-order A. Berries green.

Leonhardia viridis. Peculiar in habit ; strong vegetation.

Sub-order B. Berries blackish blue.

Hlubeckia fertilis. Distinguished by particular fertility.

On comparing the fructiferous hermaphrodite flowers of the wild vines with those of the cultivated varieties, no particular difference can be observed. The shapes of their leaves are also very analogous. The great difference between them appears in the bunches of grapes. Not a single bunch of grapes has been met with which could be said to be similar to or identical with any variety of the cultivated grapes of the Rhine valley. If the wild vines were degenerated seedlings of cultivated races, some at least amongst them might be expected to show the characters of the parent stock. A few indeed showed some similarity to known varieties in single parts, such as the leaves (see Gockia crescentifolia above) ; but in such a case the fruit differed completely.

On comparison of the habitual varieties of wild vines of the Rhine valley, it is found that the differences of external shape and intrinsic quality are very numerous, and concern the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit. The grapes are mostly black, and amongst many thousands of plants only three were found bearing white fruit. Of these one had acid, the other moderately sweet fruit ; the third bore the delicious orange-flavoured grapes. The bunches of the two first white varieties were loose, pendulous, and carried long small berries; the orange-flower vine had bunches with densely placed grapes. Among the black varieties some bore very small bunches, not exceeding an inch in length. Others reached 2, 3, 4, and 5 inches, and thus became more like cultivated races. Most common were the black grapes of oval shape ; all these were ranged under the generic name of Palatina.

The shapes of the leaves also differed greatly. The Tileci-folia had the perfectly undivided leaf which is most commonly seen on the vigorous shoots of the American Vitis labrusca. Starting from this, there were progressively found all kinds and degrees of divisions of the leaf up to seven lobes ; and a complete splitting up of the vegetable membrane into teeth. This leaf reminded of the parsley-leaved royal muscadine, but the grape of this vine was black. The leaves of some varieties were kidney-shaped, others three-lobed, others five-lobed. The bays between the lobes were more or less developed.

Some leaves had no teeth on their margins, others had strongly serrate margins, and amongst these latter the Noachia macrophylla was most conspicuous.

In Upper and Lower Austria, particularly between Vienna and Presburg, there grow many wild vines on the shores of the Danube. Jaquin, in an article in the Austrian Annals of Agriculture, showed years ago that there were growing on the islands in the Danube large numbers of wild vines bearing small grapes. Similar vines appear below Buda, and extend to Transylvania. The borders of the Theiss are enlivened by their presence; the Save, when it issues from Croatia, waters many plants of this kind. On the Adige, in the Tyrol, there are some jungles formed by wild vines which creep over low shrubs of Rhus cotinus and wild fig-trees. In the valley from Milan to Roveredo and Trient there are no wild vines whatever, but they appear where the Adige leaves the mountains and runs through a low marshy country.

From the foregoing, it is evident that all those European countries which possess the climatic conditions, have in their flora many species of the genus Vitis in a wild state, with such botanical characters as leave no doubt that the plants are indigenous, produced by natural selection, and not derived from imported cultivated races of vines, or degenerated by natural selection from previously cultivated races, the products of artificial crossing or human selection.

PROBABLE DERIVATION OF CULTIVATED VINES FROM INDIGENOUS VARIETIES.

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EACH PARTICULAR DISTRICT PRODUCING A particular kind of well-characterized wine, does so by means of particular well-characterized varieties of vines. These vines must be either indigenous to these districts or be produced in them by natural or artificial selection from indigenous varieties : for when transplanted to other districts they change their character more or less, so as to produce a different wine ; or they lose their peculiarities so completely as to be worthless for making wine ; or they cease to be fructiferous ; or, lastly, they do not succeed at all, and pine and die out.

The aramont is commonly grown about Montpellier on account of its extraordinary fertility. Its bunches are large, its grapes of the size of nuts. Transplanted to the south of Germany, the aramont begins to bear in the fourth year, and produces many and large bunches of grapes. But year by year its fertility decreases, and its berries become smaller, until the viticulturist is obliged to remove the barren plants.

Austria possesses four peculiar vines which are probably indigenous to the banks of the Danube. They are described by Burger as follows :—

Plinia rubrivenia, the Rothgipfler of Upper Austria, is a vine with very dark foliage, the ribs, nerves, and points of which are red. At first sight it resembles the Traminer, but its grapes are green.

Plinia austriaca, the green Muscateller of Upper Austria, is one of the most fertile vines in existence. Its bunches are large and bear small, greenish-yellow grapes. It is not cultivated in other parts of Austria.

Virgilia austriaea, or the white one of Grinzing (a village near Vienna), is only met with in the country round Vienna, where it is cultivated after the head-knob fashion.

Herera austriaea, or red Zierifandler of Vöslau, is cultivated only in the valley between Vienna and Baden, and hot to any great extent. Its grape is light red, and is said to yield good wine. Bronner, who had become acquainted with these varieties, and particularly the fertility of the green muscateller, planted some vines of all four varieties in his vineyard at Wiesloch. During ten years he did not obtain a single grape from any of them, and after ten further years all the vines had died out.

The vines of Europe transplanted to North America do not succeed. Viticulture in that country is only possible with indigenous varieties or their crosses.

American vines, which yield good wine in the United States, when grown in the Gironde, degenerate, and yield no drinkable wine. M. Boucherot, of Carbonnieux, near Bordeaux, has made this experience by plantations on a large scale, and it is from himself that we have ascertained the circumstance.

The Riessling vine, transplanted to Portugal, is said to yield the Bucellas wine. Nobody would recognize Riessling in Bucellas ; and if the common report of this transplantation (which, however, generally only refers to the hock-grape) be correct, it proves that this vine so alters its character in the southern climate as to give an altogether different product.

Sherry is to a large extent made from a grape called the Pedro Ximenes, said to have been brought to Spain from the banks of the Moselle by the man whose name it bears. If this really be as related (and in view of the undetermined nature of the vines we reserve our judgment), this vine could only be the Albuelis or Elbling. In sherry, this ingredient can be as little recognized as any sherry-flavour can be discovered in Moselle. If the Pedro Ximenes is the transplanted Elbling, its fruit offers completely altered characters.

The vines of the Alto Douro differ in specific botanical character from all other vines, as port-wine differs from other wine. The Gironde produces the peculiar red wines by means of its carbenet, carmenere, malbec, and verdot. Transplanted to Spain, these vines do not produce claret any longer; in a climate less warm and less moist these vines so lose their fertility as to cease to be remunerative objects of agriculture.

What we intend here to show as a general proposition, illustrated by a number of striking examples, the reader can further examine in the course of his perusal of the topographical description of later chapters. Every uniform climatic region has its peculiarly adapted varieties of (wild and) cultivated vines, which cannot be so successfully cultivated in other regions, or cannot be cultivated at all anywhere else. But many varieties of vine, generally those of no particular qualities for wine-making, can be grown in a variety of districts, although in that case even it is necessary that these districts should have some climatic features in common.

FOSSIL VINE AND GRAPES.

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THE BOTANICAL ARGUMENT CONTAINED IN the foregoing pages appears to be almost incontestable, but its result is happily raised to absolute certainty by the testimony of rocks. This testimony proves that the wild vine existed certainly in Germany, and perhaps also in Bohemia and Tuscany, during the tertiary, and before the basaltic period. At Salzhausen, in Hesse - Darmstadt north of the Maine, there is a mine of so-called brown-coal or lignite. The shaft by which the coal is reached passes through 180 feet of solid basalt rock. The lignite fills a basin in tertiary strata, and consists of a great variety of decayed timber, shrubwood, and leaves imbedded in a clayey material. It is evident, from the nature of the bed and the arrangement of the lignite, that most of the wood and leaves have been produced on the spot, which was a jungle and morass, while another and smaller proportion of the lignite has been imported by the rivulet of a small valley. During the basaltic period this entire region became covered by a stream of lava, which at the particular spot of the shaft of the mine is about 180 feet thick. Now this lava belongs to the latest basaltic eruptions of that marvellous volcanic region, the Vogelsberg (mountain of birds), which rises to a height of 2,200 feet above the level of the sea. In the attempt to estimate the age of these formations, science experiences many difficulties, which we need not discuss, but it enables us to say that a hundred thousand years would be the shortest period which must have elapsed since the upheaving of these phonolithic and basaltic mountains. How many thousand years before this must have vegetated the vine in the jungle covered by the lava, can be approximately determined. For the geological data upon which such calculations can be based, we refer the reader to the essay of Tasché, in the Transactions of the Caroline Academy of Sciences.

The lignites of Salzhausen are mostly used for fuel, but there are portions of them which exclusively serve the

higher purposes of science. These are laid aside by the miners, dried slowly to prevent their Assuring, and then split up by means of knives and chisels into thin plates. On the cleavage surfaces a great variety of impressions of leaves appear, among them peculiar oak-leaves resembling the Mexican evergreen varieties, species of smilax and anona, leaves of carya (a walnut-like tree) and its nuts, the small fruit of a pistacia, and the broad beautiful leaves of a fig-tree, with here and there the impression of a half-grown fig. Interspersed with these, or in separate layers, are found the impressions of the leaves of the fossil vine (Vitis teutonica). These leaves are of the size of medium vine-leaves, have stalks, and at their base are mostly unequally cordate, one side preponderating in size over the other. They are mostly imperfectly divided into five lobes, of which the anterior three lobes are more developed and pointed than the two posterior ones. The margins of the leaves are unequally dentated.

These leaves were formerly believed to belong to a species of acer, but subsequently correctly interpreted by A. Braun as those of a vine. This diagnosis was particularly supported by the discovery of large quantities of seeds of berry-fruit, which, as the engraving shows, have great similarity to the seeds of Cissus and Vitis fruit. This similarity is so great that two years before the publication of Braun’s memoir (1845), one of us, having incorporated a number of these seeds with his geological collection, labelled them fossil raisin-stones. Some of the Salzhausen fruit-coal now in our possession represents a regular cake of murk ; that is to say, a compressed mass of kernels and membranes, the residues of husks. Here and there indications of stalks are seen. There being no other variety of Cissus or Vitis met with in the lignite, we conclude that the Vitis-leaves and the seeds of the berry fruit come from the same plant.

Unger believes that the same kind of Vitis also occurs in lignite at Bilin in Bohemia, and states that the leaves greatly resemble the leaves of Ampellopsis tricuspidata from Japan.

Gaudin ( Mém. sur quelques Gisements des Feuilles foss. de la Toscane ) describes several species of Ampellideae, and amongst them the Vitis Ausoniœ. This is no doubt a fossil vine ; but as the leaves are much mutilated, it cannot at present be determined whether it is identical with, or different from, the Vitis Teutonica.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE VINE ON THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.

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THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS FOR THE success of the vine are on the northern hemisphere united in a belt of territory enclosed

between two lines, the northern of which we call the polar limit of the cultivation of the vine, and the southern the equatorial limit. The polar limit commences north of the Azores, keeps to the south of England without touching that country, enters France at Vannes in Brétagne, runs upon Mazières, and goes thence past Alençon and Beauvais. It then runs more northward, including a portion of Rhenish Prussia, passing to the north of Thuringia and the valley of the Saale to the north of Saxony, particularly of Dresden, and then runs across the Carpathians, through South Russia, almost in a straight line to the northern end of the Caspian Sea. Thence it proceeds in a straight line to the Amoor, and somewhat to the north of the southern bends of that river, ending in the Pacific Ocean. The equatorial limit begins near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, and includes the Canary Islands and all the islands lying near the African and Spanish coast. It then enters Africa at about the 30th degree of northern latitude, and running nearly upon, though a little to the north of that degree, it leaves Africa at the middle of the Isthmus of Suez ; runs across Arabia and the Persian Sea, enters India near the 25th degree of northern latitude, and then describes a loop running downwards in Hindostan itself, nearly parallel to its sea borders; so that the whole interior of Hindostan is comprised in it, while the whole sea-board is excluded. It then passes again to the north, excluding all the land within several hundred miles from the sea-board, and passes into China, to terminate at the eastern end of it, on the 27th degree of northern latitude. We have termed these the limits of the culture of the vine, for the vine grows very well to the north of this belt, though its fruit never ripens unless in exceptional situations, or by means of special protections. To the south of the equatorial limits also the vine does yet grow, but it loses its best qualities by becoming an evergreen, on which all stages of growth are represented at the same time ; and under those circumstances it is unable to mature the fruit in the same manner and perfection as when it is subject to the rotation of the seasons.

The parallels, or means of the limits of the culture of the vine, do not coincide with any isothermal lines, for the vine requires not a certain high average temperature of the year, but a maximum of summer heat, without which the fruit does not ripen. There are many places in the viticultural belt, the average temperature of which is far below that of England, and yet they produce excellent wine. England does not produce wine because, although its average temperature is very high, its maximum summer heat is not high enough to ripen the grape. This is no doubt due to the circumstance that the large masses of water vapour which constantly pervade the air over Britain, prevent the rays of the sun from striking the soil with that effect which is required.

The cultivation of the vine in America is included, apparently, between similar limits. North of the 50th degree of latitude the indigenous American vines cannot be cultivated. The scuppernong does not succeed north of the Potomac, and the indigenous vines apparently do not pass south of the centre of Mexico.

We have not as yet any exact map showing the extent of the cultivation of the vine in the southern hemisphere. Peru produces wine; and so do South Africa (Cape of Good Hope) and Australia. How far, however, the cultivation of the vine in these districts extends geographically is at present not exactly known.

MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE VINE.

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THE MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE vine are extracted from the soil by the roots, and variously distributed in the plant. An exact knowledge of these is of the greatest importance to the viticulturist, as it enables him to adapt his soil to the necessities of the plant in the most perfect and economical manner, and thus to ensure the greatest possible production of grapes and wine. The mineral constituents of the vine are obtained as ashes by the combustion of its several parts. For the purposes of exact science, this incineration has to be effected with great care ; the several parts have to be cleaned without being washed, and then to be dried at the temperature of boiling water to expel all moisture. The residue is weighed, and its proportion to the quantity of expelled water determined. It is then carefully burned in platinum vessels, and placed in the red-hot compartments (so-called muffles) of a furnace with a strong draught until a white ash is obtained. This ash consists of a part which is soluble in water, and of another which is insoluble.

The soluble part comprises the alkali metals, potassium and sodium, combined with carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, and chlorine ; while the insoluble part contains calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese, combined with carbonic, phosphoric, and silicic acid. These various substances are separated from each other by the special proceedings of analytical chemistry. It is thus found that the vine contains the same kinds of mineral ingredients as most other vegetables, but in different proportions. The proportions in the ash of the vine of alkalies to earths are about equal ; and again, the united weight of these bases is about equal to, and sometimes exceeds somewhat the half of, the weight of the entire ash. Different vines yield different proportions of ash, but vines of the same kind, in full development and at the same period of vegetation, yield very similar proportions of ash. The ashes of the various parts of the vine, of leaves, branches, wood, and roots, differ from each other in a very striking manner.

Many researches have shown that the ripe woody canes of the year’s growth, at the termination of the vegetative period, i.e. during the winter, contain from one-fourth to one-fifth of their weight of moisture, or 25 to 20 per cent., and from 2.2 to 4.2 per cent, of ash. The older wood contains about the same proportion, but the roots contain a little more. The distribution of the mineral constituents in the various parts of the vine, at the period of the maturity of the grapes, is shown by the table on the opposite page.

In the first-named six parts the moisture was expelled at 1oo⁰, in the last seven at 11o° C.

We thus perceive that the various organs of the vine assimilate different quantities and qualities of mineral matter. The leaves yield the greatest amount of ash, and the old wood and the ripe grapes the smallest. It is further observed that the less mineral matter a part contains, the greater is in that ash the proportion of soluble salts. The ash of the leaves is the highest absolute amount of ash yielded by any organ, and it contains the lowest percentage of soluble salts amongst all

the specimens of ash enumerated. The half-ripe grapes, on the other hand, contain a very low percentage of ash, and in this the maximum percentage of soluble salts enumerated in the last column. The leaves and wood are rich in potassium salts, while the bark contains much calcium carbonate. The pith and stones are rich in phosphate of calcium (De Vergnette).

The ash of the canes, of the murk, and of a litre of wine from one and the same vine, examined by Boussingault in 1848, yielded the following quantities of ingredients :—

The canes had yielded 2.44 per cent of ash, and the murk, air-dry, 6. 65 ; i litre of wine had given 1.870 grammes of ash, or 0.19 per cent ; the density of the wine assumed as 0.960. It is clear that the ash of the canes contains less potash and more lime than that of the murk, and that the proportion of potash to lime is highest in the ash of the wine. Thus we have per cent. of potash contained in ash of canes 18.0, murk 36.9, wine 45.0; per cent, of lime contained in ash of canes 27.3, murk 10.7, wine 4.9. But the relations of magnesia in those parts are different from those of potash and lime, for the percentage of magnesia contained in ash of canes is 6.1, murk 2.2, wine 9.2. The wine yields a very small percentage of ash compared to the other parts, and in consequence its percentage of alkalies is smaller than that of any other part of the vine ; but as it has lost much mineral matter during fermentation, the quantity of its ash is not the measure of the quantity of mineral matter removed by it from the soil : for this determination, the murk, before fermentation, has to be examined.

It is of interest to ascertain the amount of mineral matter which a fruit-bearing branch of one summer’s growth contains. Berthier analysed such a branch, cut from a Gamay vine at Nemours, in October 1850, at the time of the vintage. Cane and leaves were examined together, but separately from the grapes.

The dry branch and leaves weighed 450 grammes.

The grapes weighed .. 70 ,,

The branch yielded ash consisting of—

Alkaline salts, 6.20 grammes, or 1.38 per cent.

Earthy salts 20.30 „ Or 4.52 „

Total ash 26.50 „ or 5.90 „

The grapes yielded ash containing—

Alkaline salts . 1.56 grammes, or 2.25 per cent.

Earthy salts .1.40 „ or 1.95 „

Total ash .2.96 „ or 4.20 „

The branch and leaves therefore contained 9 times as much inorganic matter, 4 times as much alkaline salts, 14 times as much earthy salts, and 6 to 7 times as much phosphates as the grapes.

The raisin stones contain about 2 per cent, of ash, and of this quantity one-half is phosphate of calcium.

The leaves in full vegetation contain about 75 per cent of water, and 2.1 per cent of ash ; therefore ash in the dry residue 8.4 per cent. Of this ash one-half is carbonate of calcium, or 51 percent, and 15.3 per cent, is phosphate of calcium. The soluble potassium salts, obtained as sulphate and carbonate, amount to 15 per cent, of the ash.

Leaves at the time of the fall contain only 66 per cent, of moisture, and 11.34 percent of ash, or about 34.02 per cent, of the dry residue. In this ash the carbonate of calcium is increased to 62.62 per cent, the phosphate decreased to 13.27 per cent, and soluble potassium salts diminished to 8.82 per cent, of the ash. The relations of the ash and its soluble constituents in the entire branch to the quantities contained in living and dead leaves are well shown by the following table of Berthier :—

Therefore, as the vegetating organs get older the absolute amount of their ash increases; but this increase consists in the accession of earthy salts only, while the amount of alkaline salts is actually diminishing.

To be complete, we must now study the mineral matters of ripe grapes, and of must. 100 parts of chasselas, grown near Paris, were found by Berthier to contain—

These specimens of ash had the following composition ;

Consequently the 100 parts of the bunch of grapes contained—

100 parts of pinot noir (Burgundy grape) contained—

The ash in each part had the following composition :—

Consequently the entire bunch contained in 100 parts—

The quantities of ash found in these analyses of grapes are much smaller than those which we have assumed in the above comparative table after Vergnette. We have no doubt that the smaller figures approach the quantities more commonly met with. Thus Bouchardat examined several specimens of grape-juice, and never found in them more than 0.067 per cent, of potash, and sometimes as little as 0.045 per cent. Crasso found in the juice of a ripe bunch of grapes 0.326 per cent, of ash, and in that of an unripe one 0.371 per cent. He also examined the four varieties of must as to their ash, and found it to have the following composition :—

The must Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were from the small variety of the Burgundy grape, or pinot ; the must No. 4 came from grapes of the Sylvaner. In the latter occur the maximum of soda and the minimum of potash observed in the series. The quantity of potash in the ash of the juice amounts to about two-thirds of the weight of the entire ash. In the stones of the grapes from which these specimens of juice were obtained no soda at all was met with. Phosphoric acid, amounting to about 16 per cent, in the ash of the must, was found in the ash of the stones to amount to a mean of 24 per cent. Manganese is present in all parts of the vine, and in particularly large quantity in black grapes ; such grapes when grown in soil deficient in manganese become less deeply coloured.

There is no particular difference observable between the ash of unripe and ripe grapes. But there is a distinct difference observable in the proportion of the several ingredients of the ash of different species of vine. Thus Walz found in the ash of two Traminer vines, the one grown at Deidesheim, the other at Speyer, the mean of 13.65 per cent of calcium phosphate ; while two Riessling vines from the same places yielded the mean of 26.25 per cent, of calcium phosphate, and two Ruländer vines (grey variety of Pineau) gave the mean of 26 per cent, of the same bone-earth. The ash of the Traminer vines contained, however, about 10 per cent more of potash—namely, 38.75 per cent.—than that of the other vines, which in the mean contained only 28 per cent. of this base.

INFLUENCE OF THE SOIL ON THE MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE VINE.

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IN HIS ANALYSES OF THE ash of several varieties of vine grown near Gratz in Styria, Hruschauer found that they all contained the same qualities of ingredients, but in different proportions, which seemed to be determined by the soil on which the vine grew. The pure bases and acids actually obtained in his analyses have been arranged in the following table :—

On calculating the quantity of oxygen in the bases it is found to amount in No. 1 to 17.99 per cent. ; No. 2, to 18.81 per cent. ; No. 3, to 19.05 per cent.

These quantities of oxygen are practically equal to each other. But the quantities of metals in the bases differ considerably, particularly in potash, and magnesia, and lime. A consideration of the law of equivalents shows that each vine required in its ash as much base, or saturating power for acid, as the other, but it used for that purpose different kinds of base—No. 1 taking more potash and less lime ; No. 2 less potash and more lime ; No. 3 quantities of lime and potash intermediate between the other two. Now, as the proportions between these bases found in the vine were also found in the soil on which they grew, we have here, to this extent, a proof of the dependence of the vine upon the soil in which it is located. When the vine cannot find a particular kind of base which it ordinarily wants for its development, it takes another instead ; it does not take a random and uncertain quantity, but substitutes for the one which it cannot have a chemical equivalent of that which happens to be available, and by this means accomplishes the cycle of its functions.

Levi established the same fact regarding a vine from the vineyard of Liebfrauen at Worms, and one from Weinsheim. He found in—

In these data the quantities of oxygen contained in the bases are 21.48 and 19.21. The coincidence of the diminution of potash and lime, and the increase of soda in the Liebfrauen vine, is remarkable. If the analyses of Boussingault and Crasso given above are subjected to a similar calculation, it is found that the oxygen in the bases amounts, in the analysis of Crasso, to 18.71 ; in that of Boussingault to 19.25. These figures approach each other so closely that we are entitled to consider them as the expression of a law of nature, according to which the ashes of the vine may contain very variable quantities of potash, soda, lime, and magnesia; but the sum of the oxygen contained in these bases is always the same, or at all events undergoes but slight variations, showing that the substitution of one base for another takes place in equivalent proportions.

The ash of the vine is obtained by the combustion of its parts; during this process the organic matters, with which the bases or salts were in combination, are destroyed. Instead of malates, tartrates, and tannates, we obtain in the ash carbonates of potash, soda, and lime ; and the carbonate of the latter again yields its acid in high temperatures, and appears as caustic lime.

To understand the part which the bases take in the organic life of the vine, we must therefore consider them in their combinations, such as they occur in the natural tissues and juices. In these their main function may shortly be stated to be the fixing and neutralization of acid nuclei, which, under the reducing influence of light, and in the presence of the elements of vegetable nutrition, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia (from which these nuclei themselves have just been formed), are gradually developed to more complex bodies. If these bases are not present in the soil in an accessible form, the vine cannot grow at all ; if they are present in insufficient amount, the growth of the vine is stunted, and its fertility is impaired or suppressed ; if they are present in the soil in false proportions, the vine effects a substitution, and is able to accomplish the cycle of its changes. But it must not be supposed that this necessity does not affect its growth, durability, fertility, and the nature of its product ; on the contrary, it is very probable that a large amount of failure in viticulture is engendered by such a disproportion in the necessary mineral constituents of the soil. Lastly, in soils where the vine finds all the mineral ingredients in proper proportion and quantity, it grows and bears with the greatest perfection. In this argument it is implied that the position, exposure, watering, and mechanical conditions of the soil are equal (in every case), and that the sole variation refers to the mineral ingredients.

AMOUNT OF MINERAL MATTER WHICH VITICULTURE ABSTRACTS FROM THE SOIL.

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BOUSSINGAULT HAS CALCULATED THE WEIGHT of matters which were removed from his vineyard (Schmalzberg, near Lampertsloch, Alsatia, Bas-Rhin, an enclosed property of 170 acres’ surface) in the shape of canes, murk, and wine.

In 1848 he obtained from this vineyard 55.05 hectolitres of wine. The murk weighed, air-dry, 492 kilos. ; 100 parts of this murk left 6.65 of ash, say 32.72 kilos, for 492 kilos.

The cutting of the vines in the spring of 1849 yielded 2,624 kilos, of canes or rods (in 1850 the same quantity within 100 kilos.) ; 100 parts of rods, burned in the state in which they had been weighed, gave 2.44 parts of ash, say 64.03 kilos, for the entire quantity of wood. Several kilogrammes of ash were actually produced.

A litre of wine left 1.870 grammes of very white ash. The particulars of the analyses of these specimens of ash we have already related above. On referring the several quantities of ingredients obtained to the whole of the vineyard, it is found that in wood, murk, and wine the following quantities of mineral matters are annually exported :—

Calculated for an hectare, this gives a total annual exportation of—

Now, whereas from an hectare there is removed by a crop of potatoes 63 kilos, alkalies, 14 kilos, phosphoric acid,

of beetroot 90 and 12, of wheat with straw 27 and 19, it is clear that viticulture abstracts much less mineral matter from the soil than root or cereal crops, and that, therefore, the vine can still be cultivated on land on which the other crops Would no longer yield remunerative harvests.

It is of course different if during the progress of viticulture green branches with leaves are removed from the vineyards, as is not rarely done in viticultural districts for the purpose of feeding domestic herbivorous animals. In these cases greater quantities of mineral matters are exported, and have to be entered into the calculation.

Vergnette calculates that on the Côted’ Or an hectare of land supports about 25,700 vines ; these produce annually about 11,462 kilos, of wood, leaves, and grapes, which, burned together, would leave 356 kilos, of ash, containing 69.40 kilos, of soluble and 286.60 kilos, of insoluble salts. If we deduct the leaves, and with them a large percentage of ash, including more than half the soluble salts, we come to figures approaching those of Boussingault.

ORGANIC INGREDIENTS AND CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE VINE.

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THE SEED OF THE VINE contains within itself all organic and inorganic compounds, which, with the aid of water, air, and warmth, are capable of producing a young plant consisting of a root with fibrils and spongioles, and a little stalk with leaves. These ingredients of the seed are lignine, which builds up its woody structures, then starch, tannic acid, fatty oil, several albuminous substances, and the mineral salts already referred to, in which phosphoric acid and potash predominate. As soon as by the aid of these materials the organs of assimilation and excretion have been constructed, the young plant becomes independent of the nourishment of the seed, which is indeed exhausted, and draws its supplies from earth and air. These materials are all of an inorganic nature, and are the following:—

Carbonic acid gas.—This is taken up by the roots in solution in water, and by the leaves as gas from the air. It is the

material from which the vine forms all its carbonaceous constituents.

Ammonia.—This body is mainly taken up by the roots from the soil, in which it is always present, owing to its being a normal constituent of rain-water. It is the material from which the vine forms all its nitrogenized ingredients.

Water.—This is not only the carrier of all materials which enter the roots in solution, but is also the source of much of the hydrogen contained in the nitrogenized products, and the source of all the hydrogen contained in the products free from nitrogen.

In